Back to School

The kids are finally back in school. I read (with envy) posts from around the blogisphere about kids going back to school almost a full month before my little darlings stepped into their school clothes for the first time. Lil’bug started with a half day last Wednesday. Then Scout started, also with a half day, on Thursday while she went off to the emergency back-up center provided by the company for which I work. Then on Friday they both had a half day. Oh, these half days KILL me!

By all accounts the first days went very well. She was a little bit hesitant to enter when I walked her to her classroom on Wednesday so I entered first. She wasn’t sure she wanted to stay until I got her set up at the dry erase easel with the markers and showed her how to remove the marker with the paper towel. She didn’t move when I said my goodbyes and gave her a quick hug and kiss. I watched from the window in the door for a good five minutes while she marked and erased over and over. She is the youngest in her class. She misses the cut-off by more than two months. She was not nearly the most traumatized by being left on the first day.

Drop-off on Friday and this week went as smoothly as one could hope. On Friday, I walked them in so I could take their picture together. Then she went off with him down the hall to her classroom. This week we’ve said our goodbyes, hugs, and kisses in the parking lot. Slip the backpack over the shoulders and the lunch box into the hand. Then, Scout took her by the hand and off they went!

On Wednesday, she came home with an assignment to put three to six items that represented her in the brown lunch bag she’d brought home. On Thursday, he brought home a stack of papers that need to be filled out and returned. There were numerous pages that specifically stated “fill out one for each child”. I questioned this on Friday when she came home without a comparable packet. Long story short, I received a second set, but that was not the intention of the principal.

Tonight is back-to-school night. My first as the parent of two children in the school. I’m torn. I really want to hear what her teacher has planned. So far I’m not impressed by the level of work coming home. I’d hoped to see at least the same level as what she’d been doing at daycare.

Tonight I also want to meet the two new teachers in the upper grades. Scout’s homeroom teacher is new as is the eighth grade homeroom teacher. His homeroom teacher will teach Language Arts to all of the 5th–8th grade students and he’ll go to the other classrooms for Social Studies, Math, and Science. He says his new favorite class will be Language Arts. He says they’ll get to earn extra credit by reading.

My main goal tonight is to put my face in front of theirs, so they know who I am and that I am taking an active role in my children’s education. I want them to know that we’re all on the same page. I just need to figure out how to clone myself in the next seven hours.